European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is one of the most common causes of poisoning death and its diagnosis requires an elevated carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) level. Noninvasive CO saturation by pulse oximetry (SpCO) has been available since 2005 and has the advantage of being portable and easy to use, but its accuracy in determining blood COHb level is controversial. To evaluate the accuracy of SpCO (index test) to estimate COHb (reference test). ⋯ The mean bias was 0.75% and the LOA was -7.08% to 8.57%, 95% CI (-8.89 to 10.38) (2794 subjects and 4646 observations). Noninvasive measurement of COHb (SpCO) using current pulse CO oximeters do not seem to be highly accurate to estimate blood COHb (moderate sensitivity and specificity, large LOA). They should probably not be used to confirm (rule-in) or exclude (rule-out) CO poisoning with certainty.
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Multicenter Study
Effect of age on the association between the Glasgow Coma Scale and the anatomical brain lesion severity: a retrospective multicentre study.
Background and importance Older adults are at higher risk of undertriage and mortality following a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Early identification and accurate triage of severe cases is therefore critical. However, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) might lack sensitivity in older patients. ⋯ Older adults had increased odds of mortality compared to their younger counterparts at all AIS-head levels: AIS-head = 3 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6-5.5], AIS-head = 4, (OR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.6-4.7) and AIS-head = 5 (OR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.9-3.6) TBI (all P < 0.001). Similar results were found among patients with multiple trauma. Conclusions In this study, among TBI patients with similar AIS-head score, there was a significant higher median GCS in older patients compared to younger patients.
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Appropriate decision-making is critical for transfusions to prevent unnecessary adverse outcomes; however, transfusion in the emergency department (ED) can only be decided based on sparse evidence in a limited time window. ⋯ In this single-center retrospective study, younger age and higher ED triage scores were associated with the appropriateness of RBC transfusions.
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Procedural sedation is routinely performed for procedures in the emergency department (ED). Propofol is a commonly used sedative, frequently combined with an opioid or low-dose ketamine as an analgesic. However, there is still controversy on the optimal combination of agents in current guidelines. ⋯ Two studies showed significant differences of overall sedation events in the fentanyl group. One study did not find any significant differences of the incidence of sedation events. This systematic review did not provide sufficient evidence that the combination of low-dose ketamine and propofol is associated with a shorter recovery time and fewer sedation events compared to the combination of opioids and propofol.